Kantar’s death throws spotlight on Israeli ‘targeted killings’

The Syrian state media reported that Kantar was killed with several others “in a hostile terrorist rocket strike” on a residential building in Jaramana. Kuntar, a former Fedayeen guerilla, was freed on July 16, 2008 as a result of a prisoner exchange arrangement between Israel and Hezbollah. Hezbollah, which is assisting Syrian government forces in its civil war, is deemed a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel. His death allegedly sparked motives for revenge against Israel.

After those rockets landed, Israel’s military said it fired artillery rounds into southern Lebanon.

The deal with Hezbollah that led to Kuntar’s release stirred an anguished debate in Israel, especially after he received a hero’s welcome in Beirut that included a red carpet and effusive praise from Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

There was no direct confirmation from Israel, which generally does not comment on air strikes inside Syria.

Hezbollah had recently elevated Mr. Kuntar to an important position, leading the group’s operations in southern Syria along the frontier of the Israeli-held part of the Golan Heights. Working in accordance with Tehran’s instructions and receiving assistance from Hizbullah, he began building a network of terror operatives for attacks against Israel in the Golan area.

Israel and Hezbollah are bitter enemies. He is believed to have joined the Shia Islamist movement’s armed wing upon his return to Lebanon. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the airstrike and said it would avenge his death.

“(I)f the Israelis think by killing Samir Kuntar they have closed an account, then they are very mistaken because they know and will come to know that they have instead opened several more”, senior Hezbollah official Hashem Safeieddine reportedly said. He had spent 29 years in jail after participation in a hit-and-run raid in Galilee, during which he killed four Israelis. The claims could not be independently verified, but the neighborhood is extremely crowded, its population more than doubled by people displaced from other parts of Syria. Yesterday she told Israel’s Army Radio that Kantar’s killing was “historic justice”.

After shooting Danny Haran in the back, Kuntar grabbed his daughter Einat and smashed her head against a rock with a rifle butt until she died too.

Members of Hezbollah are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces against insurgents who have been battling to oust him for almost five years. Hezbollah is reported to support the regime of Assad by sending troops to fight against insurgents, such as ISIS.

This story has been corrected to show that the Lebanese militant group accused Israel of killing Hezbollah commanders in Golan Heights in January 2015, not January 2014.

Code Red sirens blared in the northern Israeli city of Nahariya and other surrounding northern Israeli communities before the strikes.